Human Relations Area Files Collection of Ethnography

The Library's web version of the Human Relations Area Files, called eHRAF, is a full-text database of information on many world cultures covering all areas of cultural and social life. eHRAF includes ethnographic documents from books, journals, dissertations and manuscripts written by anthropologists, sociologists, other social scientists, travelers, and missionaries. One of the unique features and strengths of this database is that every paragraph of every document has been indexed and, thus, may be searched, using over 700 subject codes from the Outline of Cultural Materials.

eHRAF is the web version of the much larger HRAF collection that was started in the 1930s and 1940s by anthropologist George P. Murdock at Yale University. The growing collection was converted to microfiche in the 1950s, and the PSU Library is the sole owner of the microfiche HRAF in the Portland metropolitan area. It is located on the 3rd floor of the library in the Microforms area.

As of 2002, eHRAF now includes information on 108 of the total 371 cultures covered by the entire HRAF Collection of Ethnography, with additional cultures and ethnographic material being added each year. Material being added includes much new information on Native Americans, North American immigrant groups, and, since September 11, 2001, the cultures of Afganistan.

Uses of the eHRAF Collection of Ethnography

Search Features
Browse:
HRAF organizes the cultures of the world into 8 regions. Each culture is given a unique Outline of World Cultures (OWC) code. You may search for cultures alphabetically by name or within one of the regional categories.

Source documents are indexed by subject descriptors according to HRAF's Outline of Cultural Materials. Each paragraph of each document is given an OCM code. You may browse subjects either alphabetically or by subject category. There are 80 broad terms and over 700 narrower terms that are searchable.

Search:
There are several different ways to query the database. You may conduct a search using a single OCM code or multiple OCM codes for all cultures in eHRAF in combination with a single culture, several cultures, or all cultures. It is also possible to search by exact word or phrase in the title or a paragraph of documents, either by itself or in combination with OCM codes or culture names.

Example:
In a diverse society such as that of the U.S., it is important to understand that norms for interpersonal interactions vary from culture to culture. Good and bad manners can differ significantly from one group to another. If I am interested in learning something about what constitutes good manners among Chicanos, I would first:

• Browse the alphabetical list of Subjects.

manners, eating	OCM code 264
manners, etiquette	OCM code 576
manners, teaching of	OCM code 860

I find 3 entries:

• Browse the alphabetical list of Cultures (or go to North America under the category "Region", and find Chicanos

With this information, I am now ready to conduct my search.

•Go to Search and type in your OCM codes, changing the Boolean operator to "OR" and in the "Cultures" list, highlight "Chicanos" and click "Search."

61 matches in 12 documents are found for this search. The following is a paragraph from one of the cited texts:

To access eHRAF use this link.

Need More Help?
eHRAF has an excellent Help menu that explains the many features and search options of the database. For additional assistance, please feel free to contact Faye Powell, Social Sciences Librarian at 503-725-4519 or powellf@pdx.edu.

October 10, 2002

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